Lithuania expels Russian charge d'affaires

By Faruk Zorlu

ANKARA (AA) – Lithuania on Monday ordered the top Russian envoy in the country to leave within five days.

A Foreign Ministry statement said it summoned a Russian Embassy official to hand over a note “declaring the chargé d’affaires ad interim of the Russian Federation Sergey Ryabokon as persona non grata.”

Ryabokon’s recent actions and statements “were incompatible with his diplomatic status, regarded as an interference in the host state's internal affairs, and, therefore, violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” the statement said.

The ministry also “strongly protested” Moscow’s decision “to illegally annex the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia, parts of which were temporarily occupied by Russia,” it added.